National Basketball Association
OKC Thunder: Top 10 Plays from the First Week and a Half
National Basketball Association

OKC Thunder: Top 10 Plays from the First Week and a Half

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET
f47ef6e7-

Every game the OKC Thunder play results in at least five jaw-dropping plays. Instead of searching Twitter for your favorite plays, we decided to pull them all into one location!

Jerami Grant is going to be the MVP of this weekly thing. I mean when you dunk on Kevin Durant you already have a special place in my heart. But the beauty of the OKC Thunder is Grant probably isn’t the most athletic guy on the team.

Every Sunday Thunderous Intentions is going to bring you the Top 10 Plays from the past week. Have a play you want mentioned? Tweet at us or hit us up on Facebook.

ADVERTISEMENT

Now let’s get this play party started.

10. Kevin Durant, meet Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook came down with so much force I think he could have broken KD’s hand. Watch how long this dude stays up in the air to block this shot? That’s the closest thing to a human flying I’ve ever seen.

Sadly for the Thunder, they came down and ran some absolutely atrocious transition offense. They literally tried to run the triangle in a five-foot radius. Once Jerami Grant actually gets to practice with the team those type of things will happen less and less.

9. Steven Adams more like Jason Kidd?

YES STEVEN YES. Adams has shown the potential to be an elite passing big; he has the vision he just needs to work on the actual passing aspect. You couldn’t tell from this play though.

This type of off-ball movement is going to be the Thunder’s best offense all season. They are too athletic to be playing iso ball, but I think Billy Donovan understands this. Remember, OKC is the fifth youngest team in the league, this stuff takes time.

8. Jerami grant is my hero

Adding this kid to the Thunder is just unfair. Sam Presti is going all-in on a team full of physical freaks and it makes for some truly special plays like this one.

The potential for a Russ-Dipo-Roberson-Grant-Adams crunch time lineup has to be my favorite invention since NBA League Pass. They are going to have the ability to rebound from all five positions, bring the ball up the court from four OR make long outlet passes. Expect a lot of plays from Grant and this lineup this season.

7. The big man fastbreak

I have no clue what I just witnessed. All I know is it resulted in two points for the good guys. We know the Stache Bros have great chemistry in the post, but who knew they could be a two-man wrecking crew in transition as well?

I really feel bad for Enes. He loves the city and the city loves him, but he probably doesn’t have a future in OKC. He just doesn’t fit in with this team, unless he’s throwing out let passes like this! Maybe that’s going to be his secret to staying…

6. Sometimes you gotta be the bigger man

Let me get this straight. I am not condoning flipping off/cursing at/being disrespectful to professional athletes. In fact this was probably the worst highlight this season…

…until Russ’ reaction. I mean c’mon? Instead of going all Ron Artest my man politely points out this idiot (whose name is RIchard Harkaway btw) and than proceeds to get him ejected. HAHAHA homie paid all that money for opening night courtside seats and he had to leave before 1/6 of the game was complete.

5. Alex Abrines is automatic from three AND the paint

Abrines is a bucket-getter. Yeah he’s automatic from deep but Alex has shown early on that he is more than just a shooter. The rookie seems to have a nice chemistry with fellow rookie Domantas Sabonis, who has been a recipient of two of Abrines’ assists this season.

But we’re not here to talk about assists. We’re here because Abrines hit a floater while being decked by Nick Young. The 23-year old can be a spark plug off the bench. The problem is the Thunder aren’t used to having a weapon with his talents so its up to Donovan to figure it out. I think he will.

4. The potential for something special

THIS IS WHAT I WAS EXPECTING BETWEN RUSS AND OLADIPO. When these guys use their athleticism for good (i.e. driving and cutting instead of shooting) the Thunder are at their peak offensively.

We’re going to see more of this as the season progresses. Until than Oladipo needs to watch 25 hours of Andre Roberson backcuts a night. Roberson is able to get open even though his defender knows Andre isn’t an offensive threat; Oladipo is. He could score six points a night with simple off the ball movement, but it’s a matter of putting in the effort.

As for that bounce pass…I mean that’s just not fair. We knew Russ could pass but to thread a needle like that?!?!?! Homie literally can do anything.

3. Andre Roberson the human octopus

So it turns out it was impossible to pick ten plays, and that just shows how fun this team is. And it was even harder to take any of these plays off. I cheated, but it was only for our benefit ????

Watching Roberson play defense is like listening to Adele. It’s perfect. Watch the route he takes to block Devin Booker to seal the game. Instead of chasing Booker Roberson immediately runs towards the rim; you can’t teach those instincts. You especially can’t teach someone how to grow their arms 6 inches longer than the average human.

2. Oklahoma City fans have range…

If you make fun of his form we can’t be friends. I respect anybody who can make a half court shot with $20k on the line and 20k people watching. Shawn Marion and Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist are/were in the NBA so obviously form doesn’t constitute his ability to play the game.

Plus his name is Tony. Mad props for representing the name well my man.

1. I meannnnnnnnnnn

I could care less that this was one of those “It was at this moment he knew he effed up” kinda things. Yeah KD turned into a super-human, but we have this video to last a lifetime.

Jerami Grant is going to dominate this list all season. He appeared twice AND HE ONLY PLAYED IN THREE GAMES. And none of his six blocks appeared on this list. Maybe I should give Grant his own weekly list? We’ll see how the season plays out.

More from Thunderous Intentions

    This article originally appeared on

    share


    Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more